Taking the high road

IN SCOTLAND, Chris Hillier is a new kind of scientist, and precisely the kind its government, the Scottish Executive, would like to see more of. He has managed to turn his research ideas into commercial realities without having to leave Scottish soil.

In just a few years Hillier and his colleagues have turned his technique for analysing chemical changes in biological tissues - a common bottleneck in the drug discovery process - into a successful commercial product called Perf-Exion. Their Glasgow-based company, Biopta, was nominated for the 2002 Best Scottish Newcomer award by Biotechnology Scotland and has been tipped as one of the country's best prospects for global commercial success.

But this success did not happen all by itself. Hillier, who trained as a pharmacologist and previously managed the Vascular Assessment Unit at Glasgow Caledonian University, has benefited from a series of funding initiatives set up by the Scottish Executive and its economic development agency, Scottish Enterprise, to help scientists commercialise their research.

Ever since the Scottish Executive was established in 1999 it has attempted to change the country's reputation as a place that is great at coming up with ideas but terrible at getting them to market. "Scotland has a tremendous history of innovation," says Jim Wallace, Scotland's deputy first minister. "One has only to think of the television and telephone, and yet both John Logie Baird and Alexander Graham Bell had to leave Scotland to have their ambitions realised." Even today, despite Scottish universities' excellent track record for winning more than their proportional share of British research grants, success with technology transfer is less glowing.

A closer look at the financial figures reveals the major source of the problem: a lack of investment in research by Scottish companies. Only 0.6 per cent of Scottish GDP is invested in research by its businesses, compared to 1.3 per cent for the UK as a whole and more than 2 per cent in the US. Investment in R&D is a major driver of innovation, one of the pillars of a modern economy.

The low level of investment has other consequences. With limited research opportunities outside universities and government research institutes, many graduates have to look further afield for industry-based R&D positions. "Research graduates coming out of university were forced to go abroad because there was so little research in Scotland," says Roger Dickinson, CEO of the government-funded research company ITI Scotland.

But all this is changing. Hillier was able to get his ideas off the ground because he and Biopta received a series of awards and grants to help them along the way. For example, a Proof of Concept fund is now available for researchers in Scotland to fund commercialisation of cutting-edge technologies. This provides successful applicants with grants of up to £150,000 to help "put flesh on the bones" of an idea, says Janet Brown, director of competitive business at Scottish Enterprise. The money is not provided to create prototypes, but rather to prove at an early stage that the idea is feasible and has market potential. Applicants do not need industrial partners to qualify for funding. "It's about supporting researchers so they can ultimately get industrial partners," says Brown.

The Proof of Concept fund is now entering its fifth year, and has helped 32 projects with grants totalling more than £4 million. Its success at launching projects and attracting additional money has lead to copycat schemes, such as the one announced in Northern Ireland in December last year.

Another springboard on offer is the Scottish Enterprise Fellowship scheme, run by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, which helps prepare scientists for the business world. Fellows get paid a salary to allow them to develop their business ideas, and obtain an intense business education at Glasgow Caledonian University's business school. "It's very helpful. It's almost like an MBA, but much more condensed," says Hillier. "'Accounts for entrepreneurs' was covered in just one afternoon." Networking with business leaders and other entrepreneurs is a key part of this scheme, which began in 1997 and has since awarded 42 fellowships.

Having a good business idea is one thing, but without cash, a fledgling business will never take off. The Smart Scotland awards provide investment for spin-off and start-up companies from a fund valued at £9.5 million. These awards are not destined for run-of-the-mill projects. "It has to be high risk and innovative, otherwise they won't fund it," says Kevin Black, a geological oceanographer who co-founded Glasgow-based company Partrac with the help of this scheme.

Black moved from a research position at the University of St Andrews to found the firm, which uses his novel particle tracking technologies to monitor the movement of marine sediments. The company was set up with £62,000, of which 75 per cent came from a Smart Scotland award and the rest was raised as venture capital by Black and his two colleagues. "It's very important that we won the award," he says. "We wouldn't exist without it." Besides cash, the award provides support with marketing, and financial and business planning. "Basically all the things a scientist traditionally isn't interested in," says Black.

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